Critically acclaimed playwright, activist and actress Anna Deavere Smith will be at Tufts this Monday, Feb. 7 to accept the 2005 Weston Howland, Jr. Award for Civic Leadership.
The Howland Award was established in the early 1980s in honor of Weston Howland, Jr.'s leadership of the Civic Education Foundation. Its distribution is overseen by the University College.
The award, according to its mission statement, "seeks to recognize an individual of exemplary civic leadership. Through his or her actions, this individual demonstrates a commitment to active citizenship and engagement within a community."
A stipulation of the award is that the recipient is to spend the day on campus.
The person must "share his or her experiences and serv[e] as a model and an inspiration to all," the statement said.
Junior Mari Pullen, a student committee member for the Howland Award, said that Smith amply represents the values the Award is based on.
"[Smith] is able to combine performing arts and politics to engage a new audience and often aims to bring together communities," Pullen said.
That doesn't stop Smith from confronting controversy.
"Smith encourages community dialogue surrounding 'controversial issues,'" Pullen added, citing Smith's one-woman play, "Twilight," as an example.
The play focuses on the 1992 acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers who were accused of violently assaulting black motorist Rodney King.
"She is an actress with the talent to bring to light the many sides of any one event, and to make her audience think and gain a new perspective," Pullen said.
Smith has engaged in a varied acting career, ranging from writing and performing two acclaimed one-woman plays, to playing Dr. Nancy McNally, the National Security Advisor on NBC's "The West Wing." She has also appeared in films such as "The Human Stain" and "The American President."
Dean of the University College Robert Hollister believes that Smith is "a marvelous selection [for the Howland Award]. She is a highly creative innovator in using the dramatic arts to elevate public understanding of social conflicts and to build community."
On Tuesday, the day after she receives her award, Smith will perform excerpts of her plays in Cohen Auditorium. Although tickets are required, they are free and are now available at the Cohen Box Office.
Smith will also be holding two invitation-only master classes focusing on artistic processes and civic dialogue.
Past recipients of the Howland Award have included John W. Gardner (President Lyndon Johnson's Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare), former US Senator and North Carolina Governor Terry Sandford, and influential documentary filmmaker Henry Hampton.
